Capybaras do generally like cats, with the exception of Dobby. Kitty Hawk was an aggressive feral tomcat, and not easy to get along with. That’s why he was here, along with his buddy Grover. I take in the thugs. Grover was at least courteous enough to stay out of Dobby’s way. During his last year, Dobby mellowed and Hawk would rub against his legs, so they did develop a friendship, but it took years.

If Kitty Hawk wandered too close, Dobby would chase him. Capybaras are faster than you can imagine.

There was a time when Kitty Hawk was trustworthy enough to join us in the front yard. Dobby knew better, though, and eventually Kitty Hawk started running away. When Dobby could no longer herd him to the back yard, Hawk lost his front yard privileges. At the very end of this video, during the credits, Dobby marks a shrub by walking over it. Pay attention to that for later.

There was also a neighbor cat Dobby took a dislike to, a big orange one. He used to sit on the carport roof next door and stare at Dobby. I have to admit that’s pretty obnoxious.

Melanie has dozens of cats now, but Flopsy started the trend. Garibaldi liked Flopsy. If you google cat and capybara, you will see the following photos. Everyone says Gari is hugging the cat, but if you know capybaras, you will see that Gari was marking Flopsy. Capybaras walk over things to mark them, dribbling urine to complete the honor. It does look like he is hugging the cat, but now you know better. You might want to check out the end of that video again. Or not.

This is probably a wild capybara somewhere in South America. She has convinced this cat to give her a massage. Capybaras love to be petted and will pouf with joy, even if it is a cat doing the honors. This poufed up fur business is called piloerection, which simply means the hair sticks out. It’s like goosebumps, except capybaras have this outrageous coarse hair, kind of like pig hair. The hairs add capybara drama to ordinary goosebumps.

You can’t google capybara without running into JoeJoe. Of course, JoeJoe loved everything, including cats. He looks a bit pouffy in this video and the cats seem to really like him.

The next one shows JoeJoe and his cat, again. The cat is not impressed with JoeJoe’s cute flop. Poor JoeJoe, capybaras are so misunderstood.

JoeJoe tries again, with a different cat. They just don’t play the same games, do they?

This last JoeJoe show is a compilation of many cat/capybara interactions. This video proves he really did love his cats! Watch for my favorite part: they are all wearing hats! I am insanely jealous of that scene.

Dobby absolutely refused to wear hats. I had to stick with butterfly wings and bandannas.

Dobby was proud of his butterfly wings. No hats, please.

Many, many thanks to Cody Kennedy for the use of his videos. I couldn’t possibly continue these blog posts without his help and enthusiasm. Check out Cody’s shop, Crazy Cody’s Creatures YouTube channel, and Patreon.

Garibaldi, Flopsy, and Coral came from Melanie Typaldos’s Capybara Madness website. You can help capybaras by donating to The ROUS Fund for Capybara Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M.

You can support Stacy’s Funny Farm by shopping at Georgia Dee’s Gift Shop. You can also donate directly. Stacy’s Funny Farm is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.